


Once Upon a Time

by LozaMoza



Series: Moments [25]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fluff, Love Stories, One Shot, Princess Bride Style, Romance, because Geralt and Yennefer, like tooth-rotting fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27124804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LozaMoza/pseuds/LozaMoza
Summary: Ciri is wakened by a nightmare, and wants Geralt to tell her a story to help her fall back asleep. She wants love and magic, and Geralt only knows one story that fits that criteria...his own.Imagine Princess Bride in KM here.
Relationships: Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon & Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Series: Moments [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806943
Comments: 20
Kudos: 60





	Once Upon a Time

“No, no, no,” the small girl stated as she clutched the blanket around her thin frame, her ashen hair glinting in the candlelight. “You have to start in with ‘Once upon a time’. All great stories began that way, and you promised this would be a great story.”

Geralt groaned as he put his head in his hands. The moon had just passed its zenith, rolling like a lumbering cart towards the western sky. It had been the third time in as many weeks that the girl had woken with nightmares. He’d tried a few different remedies, such as a snowball fight, and midnight rat hunt (the bounty of which hung on her wall like a prized trophy), but never a fairytale.

“What about that story I told to you in Brokilon when you were lost. Do you remember?” 

Ciri rolled her eyes. “I  _ do  _ remember, which is why I want another. I want one with princesses and princes and love and magic.”

Geralt thought of Princess Adda, but somehow a child born of incest and cursed into a striga that devoured people didn’t seem like the proper topic for a fairytale to calm restless nightmares. Renfri came to mind as well, but a girl born under the Black Sun and molded into a vengeful and angry woman by either nature or nurture, one that Geralt failed to save but killed instead, also seemed to be the wrong sort of princess. 

He wrung his hands, focusing on the calluses and scars. “I don’t know many princesses, Ciri, and certainly none that fit the story you want.”

Her face frowned and she bit her bottom lip in a frustrated manner. “You don’t have to  _ know _ them, Geralt, and it doesn’t even have to be real. I just…” she was quiet for a minute. “I just want a story about love and magic.” Her eyes looked out the window towards the waning moon, and her lips quivered. “Something good,” she whispered. 

Love and magic. That was something he knew. He swallowed.

“There once was…” he began.

“Once upon a time! You promised!” she stopped him, clenching her fists tightly. 

“Once upon a time, there was a wi...a prince, and he had a good friend named…” Geralt struggled, trying to think of a name for Dandelion. 

“What was his name?”

“Weed,” Geralt replied, cringing slightly. He could only imagine Dandelion’s response to being renamed Weed. 

“Weed? That’s a strange name,” Ciri retorted. 

“Who’s telling this story? Me or you?” Ciri remained quiet.

“Anyway, Weed was always curious, and he was a little rash, so he never really thought things through. One day, the prince and Weed were fishing and they found a djinn.”

“A djinn? Like a magic djinn?!” 

“Yes, a magic djinn. And Weed was excited, so he acted without thinking, like usual. See, the prince knew to be careful with djinns, as the prince was very wise and very cautious.” Geralt didn’t feel the need to admit that he in fact didn’t believe the creature was a djinn at first. “Weed was not so cautious, and he wanted the djinn to grant him wishes. But djinns are malicious and tricky creatures, and it attacked Weed instead.”

Ciri stared wide-eyed at him. “It attacked him? Was he alright?”

“He lived, but he was choking and vomiting blood, and he would certainly die. The prince knew he needed to do something, so he rushed to the nearest town to find a doctor.”

“Did he find one?” Ciri was enraptured. 

“He did, an elf in fact. But the elf said this was a magical injury, so it would need magical treatment. The prince knew he needed a magician. There was one in town.”

“The princess!? It was the princess, wasn’t it?”

Geralt smiled. What would Yennefer say to that? “It was,” he whispered, and he swallowed to combat the aching in his chest. “So the prince found her, locked away in a house of the town alderman.”

“She was locked away? Did she do something bad? Was she beautiful?” Ciri’s eyes were wide as dinner plates now. 

Geralt wasn’t sure how to describe Yennefer’s rift with the town in terms Ciri would understand, so he improvised. “She had upset the council of kings, and they were very displeased with her, so they forced her to stay in the house. But she was strong, and she survived.” 

“They were probably just jealous of her magic.” Geralt grinned at that. “And was she beautiful?”

Images of violet eyes and milky skin and stormy curls flashed before him. “She was. The prince didn’t realize it at the time, but she was the most beautiful person he would ever see. No one would ever compare to her again for him.”

Ciri sighed happily. “Did she help Weed?”

“She did. She was willing to help the prince and Weed, and she made no demands of recompense, so the prince fell under her spell.”

“Did she put a spell on him?”

“Well, yes, but not that kind of spell. Not immediately, anyway. You see, she wanted to djinn for herself.”

“But, but djinns are dangerous! Didn’t the prince tell her that?”

Geralt was certain that had Yennefer been there at that moment she would have retorted that the hapless “prince” was still too foolish to accept it was a djinn, but she wasn’t there. “She did know they were dangerous, but they were also powerful, and the djinn could grant the princess her greatest wish.”

“And she would risk their wrath for that? What was her wish? Did the prince know?”

Geralt heaved a heavy sigh. “Not until much later, Ciri, and yes, she would risk everything for that wish.”

“But what was her wish, Geralt?”

“She wanted to be a mother.” The one thing Geralt knew he could never give her, no matter how many cursed princess strigas he saved and treasures he converted to jewels. Ciri sat silently, the child obviously unsure of what to say. Geralt cleared his throat. “She tried to trick the prince to take the wishes.”

“But, how?”

“You see, she believed that Weed was in control of the djinn, and that she could capture it after Weed expressed his last wish. But what she didn’t know, what no one knew right there, was that the witc...the  _ prince _ … was in control of the djinn. And he has already said one wish. He had two more.”

“He did? What was his first wish?”

_ Begone and go fuck yourself, _ Geralt thought. “He wished for the djinn to leave, and the creature did for a time. But he still had two wishes.”

“What happened next?” Ciri whispered.

“The princess used her magic to put a spell over the prince, and it landed him in jail.”

“That’s awful!” cried Ciri. 

“It wasn’t the best, but she tried to make up for it. Once Weed was healed, she told him to wish that the prince was completely innocent, but of course Weed never had the wishes, so it didn’t matter. Instead, the prince accidentally used his second wish to make a guard in the jail blow up like an over-ripened tomato.”

“EWWWW!” shrieked Ciri. 

“I know,” replied Geralt. “The prince was very disgusted too.” He remembered being covered in the entrails of the guard and grimaced.

“How did the prince escape?”

“Well, the mayor was obviously very upset about the guard and called the prince to him. And that’s when Weed magically appeared and proclaimed the prince innocent. So Weed and the prince were safe.”

“But what about the princess!?” Ciri cried. “Did the djinn get her?

“The princess was in grave danger, and she was going to die, even if to this day she’ll likely argue she had everything under control. And even though she had tricked the prince, he couldn’t let her die, because…” Geralt stopped, unsure of what to say.

“Because he had fallen in love with her.” Ciri stated simply.

Geralt smiled, though it was a sad smile. “I am not overly fond of grand words, but yes, something like that.”

“So he saved her?” Ciri ventured.

“He fought and battled with her, as she was _ VERY  _ stubborn (Geralt thought about the portal hopping and Yennefer’s barrage of curses at him) until finally he admitted to the princess that he was the one with the wishes. So she told him to make a wish. And as he was looking at the princess, ready to fight the terrifying djinn to certain death, he did.”

“What did he wish for?” 

“That is something for only both of them to know, Ciri,” Geralt winked at her. 

“Geralt, you cannot possibly be serious! You won’t even tell me? Did they live at least?”

“They did. The djinn flew away after it was released, and the prince and princess were safe, and they were together.” Geralt thought about that first time with Yennefer, making love in that ruined inn, and his heart lurched. “Now it’s late, Ciri, and you have training tomorrow. Time for bed.”

“But, Geralt!!” Ciri whined.

“No whining. It’s time for sleep. The Gauntlet is hard enough when you’re well-rested.” He stood up and walked to the door. 

“Wait, tell me, did they live happily ever after?”

Geralt heaved a sad and slow breath. “They lived, and not always happy or together, but the princess was always on the prince’s mind.” He stopped for a moment. “She still is,” he finally said, his voice barely audible.

“So he still loves her?”

“He always will,” Geralt replied in a heavy tone. “Always.”

Ciri thought about this for a long time. “Geralt? What was her name? The princess?”

At that, a grin ghosted across his features. He looked at the girl, still clutching the heavy blanket to fight off the chill of Kaer Morhen nights, her wide green eyes glittering in the starlight. 

“Yen,” he said, relishing the way the word felt on his tongue. “Her name was Yen.”

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies it's been a little bit since my one-shots! I decided to make one super fluffy this time. Thank you so much for reading! Comments and kudos are as always so appreciated


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